Yahoo Inc. on Wednesday boosted its offerings in its personal-search service, making it easier to save and retrieve web pages and providing tools for sharing them online with other people.

The Sunnyvale, Calif., portal launched My Web in beta, integrating the company’s search history service that was launched in October. The latter tracks use of the Yahoo web search engine, so a person can go back later and find previous results to queries.

Does MSN favour IIS-Hosted Sites?
by Chris Richardson - chris@webpronews.com

Does Microsoft consider the server environment a site is hosted on when applying relevancy rankings for their search results? If this were indeed true, wouldn’t manipulation of this sort render their SERPs as biased and non-relevant?

If the study conducted by Ivor Hewitt (which was first reported by /.) continues to yield the results his less thorough tests did, he may be on to something that could cast some doubt towards one of the more promising search engines to hit the market in some time.

Looking Up Vertical Search Lines by Jim Hedger

Vertical search refers to search engines designed to return results from very narrow or specific information or business sectors.

Search tools that focus on a tight regime of information have existed for years. There are plenty of examples that already exist such as the highly successful book-search engine, AbeBooks.com, or the various job and career search engines like Monster.com. Name a business sector and you can likely find a search tool designed specifically for that sector. Vertical search is not a new idea however branding it as an essential type of search engine is. To quote the respected blogger, Om Malik, “You can’t go two steps on Sand Hill Road , the epicenter of venture capital without some money man espousing the virtues of vertical search.”

Introducing PageRank - Shattering the Myth by Dave Collins

One of the most fascinating aspects of the web is its dynamism. We all know that it develops at an astonishing speed - yesterday’s craze is today’s old news, and biggër and better things seem to be springing up every few days. Some of them crumble quickly into dust, while others seem destined to tower above the rest.
Naturally, search engines also follow this pattern. Some of the early search engine giants remain with us today, but many of them are gone - and every so often, a new champion seems to emerge. Recent years have seen the growth and development of a search engine that puts all others to shame. It might have once stood at the same level as its rivals, but there is no doubt that for now at least, Google rules the web.

Search Engine Metrics Organic Search versus Paid Placement by Lawrence Deon

Let me preface this report by citing advertisers in 2004 have spent 4 Billion dollars on search engine marketing according to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO).

Website marketers cited Search engine positioning was the top method to drive traffïc to their sites (66%), followed by email marketing (54%). Source: Direct Marketing Association. Accordingly, the most cost effective way to market your web site online is to obtain several top 10-search engine rankings in the major search engines for your keywords.

Secrets to Spyproofing your Computer in Four Easy Steps by Elizabeth Ward

I think the question should be, do I use my computer for anything that would best remain private and confidential? Computer monitoring has become a huge industry, involving individuals, companies and governments worldwide. Ask the millïons of people who’ve had their identities stolen if they would have done anything different, knowing what they do today.

Did you know identity theft is the nations fastest growing crime?

With the advent of computer technology and the Internet spreading through our homes and businesses at lightning speed, if you haven’t been affected by computer crime in one way or another, chances are you will be soon.

Why Paid Inclusion is Better Than PPC Advertising by Kristian Pulz

When search engines pay website owners a percentage of the bid cost, you’re just looking for trouble.

This is the problem with Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, especially with smaller named search engines. Many websites request or even pay there visitors to search a specific search engine and click on a result. This just sends advertisers fake leads and causes problems for the advertisers that paid for the keyword listing. Many PPC search engines offer webmasters up to 80% of the bid price. For example, let’s say I pay ‘Example Search Engine’ $1 for the keyword roof-racks, they then pay webmasters $.80 per visitor they send that searches and clicks on a bided search term. You can see why PPC can be a problem.

Log File Analysis & SEO by Kalena and Jerry Jordan

If you own or manage a website, you are probably already aware of the importance of your log files or site statistics. Such data can give you insights about your site’s usability, errors in your HTML code, the popularity of your site pages and the type of visitors your site attracts. But did you know it can also highlight the success or failure of your search engine optimization campaign?

Google Video is like Flickr on Steroids by Steven Rubel

Google Video lets you search through transcripts of television content, and if what you are looking for is found it will show you the relevant transcript sections along with a still image clip of the broadcast.
The name Google Video never really sounds right for this service - there is really nothing to do with videos. Until now.

The 3 Essential Components of a Search Engine Optimization Campaign
By Matt Hockin

Everyday, the Search Engines average 300 Million searches. In a recent Forrester Research report 81% of consumers on the Internet find products and services by using the Search Engines. Search Engine Optimization allows you to achieve top search engine placement and a tap into a new source of qualified visitors who are actively searching for products and services on the Internet.

Unfortunately, only 7% of all websites are visible on the search engines according to a recent StatMarket.com study. The reason for this phenomenon is that most web sites are not properly optimized and promoted to achieve high search engine rankings.